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Although hiring intentions across Australia remain positive, the recently released Manpower Employment Outlook Survey (MEOS) found that results varied from state to state.

Compared to a national average net employment outlook1 of +11% for the fourth quarter, the report found the forecast broken down by each state was as follows:

New South Wales (+13%)

Victoria (+15%)

Queensland (+12%)

South Australia (+9%)

Western Australia (+2%)

Tasmania (+11%)

Northern Territory (+6%)

Australian Capital Territory (+14%)

Tim Roche, talent and career management practice leader at Right Management (a division of ManpowerGroup), talked to HC about what these figures mean for HR departments across the country.

“All states reported positive hiring intentions, which is great to see and signifies a strong outlook for our economic growth for the remainder of the year,” he said.

Victoria and NSW both projected solid employment growth for the next quarter. This was mainly driven by large infrastructure projects in both states however, Roche said.

The increased employment forecast for private and public sectors in the ACT is being pushed by a drive for IT-related jobs, he added.

For South Australia – although employment outlook is relatively low – this is a turnaround from the past few years.

“Despite downbeat factors such as the closing of the steelworks, South Australia’s employment prospects are the strongest they have been since 2012 due to the Defence Force’s decision to build Australia’s 12 new naval submarines in Adelaide,” he said.

Lastly, Western Australia and the Northern Territory trailed behind with the lowest net employment outlooks in the country.

“However, compared to last quarter they are picking up the hiring pace as companies in these regions transition away from the mining boom,” Roche said.

1The net employment outlook is calculated by taking the percentage of employers predicting an increase in employment and subtracting the percentage of those forecasting a decrease. Seasonal adjustments are also applied to the data.